Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

I’ve put together a KGallery album of  pictures from my weekend Watches. 

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=171aim5l.8evc10k9&x=0&y=v0ybpb\
&localeid=en_US

or tiny url:

http://tinyurl.com/r2tlmn

No sign in necessary. Enjoy!

Carol P.

Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

OK, all. It’s been a very interesting week, watching Mariah, Archer
and Beauty.

There have been no witnessed encounters between Mariah and Archer &
Beauty over the past 3 days. Things seem to have calmed down,
thankfully. Every day something new happens.

Mariah has been spending a lot of her time snoozing on the east side
gorge wall, between the observation deck and the High Falls. Today a very strange thing happened.

I arrived downtown at 10 am. After checking out the downtown area and only finding Archer on the Times Square Bldg, I drove over to the east end of the pedestrian bridge. Carla P had arrived just before me.

We spotted Mariah on the gorge wall, very close to where she was yesterday.

At 11 am, Archer flew into the gorge. He flew over us, heading north. He
didn’t go very far, turned around and flew low over our position. I was really concerned that he had come to do battle with Mariah, but he landed on the east side gorge wall about 20 feet from her. During the next 45 minutes, Archer and Mariah continued to sit calmly. Mariah even slept on and off. After 45 minutes Archer took off and landed just above Mariah’s position. Again no seeming concern from either of them and no vocalization. After about 5 minutes, Archer took off, dipped in front of Mariah and flew south towards downtown.

When he first flew in, I was very concerned that he was going to
attack Mariah, but he didn’t. The behavior of these three Falcons is really
different than anything we’ve seen before.

About 15 mintues after Archer left, Mariah left the gorge wall and flew towards the Kodak Tower. She looped around a few times before landing on the launch pad, north side.

A 1/2 hour later, she left the launch pad, and headed north, away from downtown.   This seems to be a pattern for her lately. We believe that she is going north to do her hunting and then returning to either the Kodak Tower or the gorge, sometimes hours later.

Now for some more interesting news. 2 Falcons are spending a lot of
time on the Times Square Bldg. We believe that it is Beauty & Archer, but we can’t be sure of that without a scope. One of the Falcons was sitting on the nest box perch and later in the afternoon one was seen entering it.

So, it’s certainly a strange and interesting Falcon Watch right now.
We definitely learn something new every day.

Carol P.

Falcon Watcher – Carol P.

I arrived at the east end of the pedestrian bridge this morning around 10:30 am, after checking downtown.  No Falcons in sight.  I joined Susan C for the morning Watch.  I had forgotten to check the gorge wall and finally did around 11:00 am.  There she was!  Mariah was on the east side gorge wall between the observation deck and the High Falls.

She was sound asleep, head tucked under her wing with her back to us.

At noon a lot of Watchers started showing up for the noon hour Watch.  Dan S, Kathy A, Larry O, Sue (Bess), Jeanne, Lynda and Tim.

Mariah woke up and decided it was time to stretch her wings.  During the hour, she took off a few times, returning to the gorge wall in a different spot.  She even ended up in the Shady Tree on the east side gorge wall.  Dale has nicknamed this tree the Falcon Sucking Tree!  🙂

 She then flew towards the pedestrian bridge, under it and off to the north.  She soon returned with a Crow on her tail.

Mariah landed on top of the gorge wall in front of the observation deck, just past Pride’s Rock.

After about a 1/2 hour, it was inevitable that someone would walk out to the observation deck.  Mariah took off and flew to the top of the Kodak Tower, landing on the launch pad.

During the morning and afternoon, Archer and Beauty were only seen twice, flying high above downtown.  There was no interaction witnessed between them and Mariah.

At 4:40 pm, both Jeanne and I left Shaky on the pedestrian bridge.  I did a quick drive around downtown.  I couldn’t find Mariah on the launch pad, but I do believe she was up there hunkered down in the shade.  The sun was very hot today.

A quick trip around the Times Square Bldg revealed Archer on the east side, just above the nest box located there.

I couldn’t find Beauty.

At 6:30 pm, Watcher Carla P left me a message on my cell phone saying that she had both Beauty & Archer on the Times Square Bldg. near the nest box level.

Carol P.

From Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

I didn’t post yesterday because I wanted to figure out what was going on. First, I want to thank ALL the Watchers that have been out over the past few days since Mariah returned. You’ve all been so generous with your time and you know who you are. If I try to list all the names, I know I’ll forget someone.On Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Mariah was content to stay near the Kodak Tower. She did not go anywhere near downtown. We were still keeping an eye on Archer and Beauty at Midtown. Over the weekend, we noticed a change over at Midtown. Both Archer and Beauty were spending more time off of the nest ledge. But, there was not behavior that indicated that there were any hatches. No food was
being brought to the ledge. In fact, when Archer brought in food on Sunday evening, Beauty tried to take it. Archer gave her a really hard time. Finally, after a long time, she was able to take the food, which she brought to the near by B&L Bldg to eat.

Things changed on Monday. Mariah decided it was time to make a move downtown. The Watchers on the bridge witnessed Mariah and Archer pushing each other back and forth between the Kodak Tower and the Times Square Bldg (which is where the 2nd nest box is located). The behavior was more like what we saw last Easter Sunday when Kaver attempted to keep the intruding female away from the K-Tower.
He was alot faster than the female, but he wasn’t strong enough to keep her away. It took Mariah to finally vanquish her after she landed in the playpen area.

During the Monday Watch, Mariah would land on the Times Square Bldg. and Archer would fly above her. Late afternoon, Mariah flew over us (on the east end of the pedestrian bridge), heading north. Approximately 45 minutes later, she came back carrying a black feather in her talons, with 2 Crows chasing her. She flew under the bridge, just below us and landed on the east side gorge wall. I was able to see that she had a very full crop, indicating that she had eaten a meal while she was gone. She only remained a few moments, before again taking off and flying south, landing again on the Times Square Bldg.

Kathy O remained downtown until 8 pm. Mariah remained on the Times Square Bldg, Archer was on the east side of Xerox (where he couldn’t see her) and Beauty was on the west side of B&L, within view of Mariah.

Now today’s Watch – Tuesday June 2nd.

The call was put out to the Rochester Watchers come downtown if they could today and many answered the call. Thanks all!

I arrived downtown around 9:30 am. I immediately spotted Mariah sitting up on the southside launchpad. Workers were below her, but she didn’t seem to mind, only ee-chupping now and then.

At 11:30 am, I drove out to the east end of the pedestrian bridge. Just as I arrived, Mariah took off. I looked all over trying to spot where she went. That’s when I saw three small dots in the sky between the K-Tower and the communication tower. There were three Falcons. The two larger Falcons were flying apart, flying together over and over again. The smaller Tiercel was hanging back, following them. There wasn’t a lot of hits and both Falcons seemed equally matched.

All three flew past the Kodak Tower and broke up. Two returned to the south towards downtown and one continued north. They were very high and only looked like small dots up there. For the next three hours all was quiet, except for the big duck rescue, which is a whole other story. 🙂

At 3:00 pm, there were a few Watchers still on the bridge, including Susan C, Kelly, Lisa McK, Shaky, Dan S, Larry O and Lynda.

Dan was the first to notice that Mariah was flying around the Kodak Tower. She never landed, but flew higher and higher and higher. First heading north and then passing overhead flying towards the downtown area. It was a joy to watch her. She would stoop and rise and flap and stoop and rise and flap. She just looked like she was having fun.

A large dark bird flew in over the gorge. At first we thought it was a Turkey Vulture, but it was far from that. The large dark bird flew over the High Falls and …………….Mariah spotted it and stooped……… and hit the very large bird. That’s when we noticed what she was hitting. It was an adult Bald Eagle. White head and white tail. She flew high again and let the Eagle go on it’s way. I’m sure the Eagle was happy about that!

Mariah was again a small speck in the sky. Now she was directly over the old Changing Scene’s Restaurant and no Falcons were speeding towards her. We watched her fold her wings back and go into a very steep stoop. Down, down, down she plummeted and whack! She hit a bird about her size. I do believe it was another Falcon, but I can’t be 100% sure.

We watched as Mariah flew over to the Times Square Bldg and landed on the base of the NE wing. Another Falcon made a quick appearance and then flew off.

When I left at 3:40 pm, that where she remained. I left Susan C and Lynda to carryon with the Watch. Hopefully they’re report what they saw.

We’ll keep Watching.

Carol P.

From Rochester Watcher Carol P.

I returned to the Kodak Tower at 3:45 pm. Watchers were gathered at the bench in front of the old Bru Restaurant. I joined Shaky, Carrie and Ellen. They informed me that Mariah had just taken off, heading NE over the gorge. Shaky ran out to the bridge in time to see Mariah fly out of sight over a red brick building on the other side of the gorge. Jeanne joined us.

During the lull, I walked out to the pedestrian bridge to see if I could spot Mariah. I didn’t find her, but I did find Dan S. He told me that he had just been at Midtown Plaza and saw two Falcons flying around, possibly hunting. It was quiet, so he assumed it was Beauty and Archer.

4:30 pm – Mariah returned to the K-Tower, SE corner of the playpen.

Larry O joined the Watch.

5:10 pm – Mariah again took off heading NE over the gorge. Carrie, Shaky and I hurried out to the pedestrian bridge and saw Mariah flying around the red brick building on the other side of the gorge. She seemed to be chasing pigeons or crows. We saw her land on the corner of the building.

I said my goodbyes to Carrie and Shaky and headed over to see if I could find Mariah’s location. Just as I found the building she was sitting on, she took off (of course!) heading north.

5:40 pm – I drove over to Midtown Plaza. All was quiet.

5:47 pm – Beauty jumped up onto the nest ledge, east side of MP.

5:53 pm – Beauty did a little bit of flying and then returned to the nest ledge.

6:09 pm – I drove back to the K-Tower and spotted Mariah on the SE corner of the playpen.

6:22 pm – Mariah flew off heading SW.

6:32 – 7:04 pm – Back to Midtown. Beauty was sitting on the Columbus Bldg. fire escape. No sign of Archer. Before I left, she flew off of the fire escape and returned to the nest ledge.

7:09 pm – Mariah was back on the K-Tower, SE Corner playpen. By the time I parked my car, she was gone.

7:35 pm – Back to Midtown. Now this was a little crazy to watch. Archer came in with a Starling sized, headless bird clutched in his talons. He landed on Midtown and started to pluck feathers. Beauty wanted the food. She flew to him, expecting him to hand it over. Nope! Archer grabbed the food and landed on top of Midtown, plucking again. Beauty tried again, Archer took off with the food. This went on for quite awhile.

7:54 pm – Archer finally lands with the prey on the NE corner of the lower section of Midtown, very close to the nest ledge. Beauty landed next to him and FINALLY snagged her dinner.

8:02 pm – Beauty took the prey to the B&L building and enjoyed her meal. Archer took over on the nest ledge, jumping down into the gutter.

This is defintely behavior I haven’t seen before. They were both off of the nest ledge more than they have been while incubating the eggs and it was a chilly, windy day.

It was time for me to head home. I drove by the K-Tower for one more look, but didn’t see Mariah there. Lots of activity today. Hopefully things will remain peaceful.

Carol P.

From Rochester Watcher Carol P.

It was a long day of Falcon Watching today, so I’m going to write this report a little differently. Thanks to ALL the watchers that showed up to help keep an eye on Mariah and Archer and Beauty. 🙂 OK, here goes………

9:45 am – Arrived downtown. Mariah was on the Kodak Tower (K-Tower), SE corner of the playpen, base.

10:00 am – A Turkey Vulture flew very close to the K-Tower and floated towards the north. No reaction from Mariah.

10:05 am – Mariah started ee-chupping. Took a quick flight around the tower and then landed (again) on the SE corner of the playpen.

10:08 am – Mariah ee-chupped again, but did not move.

10:12 am – Mariah ee-chupped at third time. This time a small Falcon swooped in towards the K-Tower landing on the cupola above Mariah. I assumed this was Archer. Both he and Mariah took off, flying together towards the gorge (east), touching talons now and then.

10:25 am – When neither Mariah or Archer returned, I drove down to Midtown Plaza (MP). Archer was sitting on the SE corner, preening. I assume Beauty was laying on the eggs.

10:39 am – Back to K-Tower. Mariah was back. She was on the SE corner of the launch pad. I was joined by Kathy O and Helen.

11:20 am – Mariah took off, stooped on something west of the K-Tower. She then headed south, came back and chased the crows on Bldg 10, then landed on the playpen base, south side.

11:25 am – Mariah stooped off of the K-Tower into the gorge.

11:33 am – Mariah returned to the SE corner of the playpen.

11:40 am – Another TV flew by. No reaction from Mariah.

12:07 pm – Mariah flew off heading west. Hunting?

12:25 pm – Mariah returned landing on east side of the launch pad, then moved to the SE corner.

At this time Kathy O reported from Midtown Plaza. No Falcons in sight.

12:45 pm – Mariah flew off heading east over the gorge.

1:10 pm – Mariah returned, landing on the arch ledge on the south side of the K-Tower. Some ee-chupping was heard.

At this time Kathy O reported that she witnessed a changing of the guard at Midtown Plaza. One of the MP falcons headed north, but never arrived at the K-Tower.

1:25 pm – All was quiet. Dawn and Jeanne arrived.

1:30 pm – I ended the first part of my Sunday Watch.

To be continued………..

Carol P.

From Rochester Watcher Jeanne.

I started out downtown and just looked at midtown– nothing. Then I went to
Kodak. Mariah was flying around the tower in the bright blue sky. She landed
at the base of the playpen. A few minutes later, she stooped on something and
went to the 19th floor. Then she flew again and went to the launch pad. When I
left at 9:15, she was still there.

I went downtown and saw a peregrine on the corner, tucked in, of the knights of
columbus building. I think it was the female.

Jeanne

I arrived downtown around 9:30 am. Mariah was up on the Kodak Tower, SE corner of the launchpad. All was quiet for the next 1 1/2 hours. She did ee-chup now and then. Turkey Vultures and Crows were near the tower.

Marcia joined me a little before 11:00 am. We decided to check out Archer and Beauty over at Midtown Plaza.

Watchers Diana R, Dana, Lou, Lisa McK and Dawn joined us. We stayed there for awhile, witnessing 2 changing of the guards on the nest ledge.

At 12:05 pm, Dawn called from the end of the pedestrian bridge near Kodak Office. She was with Dan S and they saw Mariah flying around the communication tower with another Falcon. She returned to the K-Tower and the 2nd Falcon headed downtown.

At approximately 12:15 pm, Archer flew over the Xerox Tower, kakking. He landed for a moment before taking off and landing on Midtown.

We believe that it was Archer that flew over to the Kodak Tower to non-aggressively fly with Mariah. Beauty remained at Midtown on the eggs.

At 2:30 pm, we headed back to the Kodak Tower. Kathy O had been keeping watch over there. We joined her.

Mariah vocalized with ee-chupping quite frequently while we watched. She chased the Crows off a few times. Marcia had her scope, so we were able to get a good look at Mariah. She looks good.

Around 3:00 pm, Mariah flew off the tower and landed on the east side on the 16th floor. There must have been leftovers on the ledge, because she pulled out a pigeon sized bird and started eating. By the time she had finished, her crop was huge. It was great seeing her eat and this was evidence that she was successfully hunting. Dana joined us.

At 4:00 pm, Mariah took off and flew east, out over the gorge. About 5 minutes later, she returned to the K-Tower trailed by a 2nd, smaller Falcon. We assume it was Archer visiting again.

Mariah landed on the east side of the launch pad and the smaller Falcon flew high above her. There was a bit of vocalization, but it wasn’t an alarm call. There seemed to be no aggression by Mariah or the other Falcon.

The 2nd Falcon then flew off towards downtown, leaving Mariah on the Kodak Tower.

So, what’s going on? Is Archer keeping Mariah from flying too close to Midtown Plaza, meeting her and flying back with her to the K-Tower? This is a first for all of us, so we’ll all keep Watching and reporting what we see.

When I left at 4:30 pm, Mariah was still on the east side launch pad. Kathy O drove downtown and reported seeing either A or B eating on a building north of Midtown Plaza.

Kathy O was the only Watcher downtown this evening. She reported that when she left at 7:45 pm, Mariah was dozing on the SE corner of the K-Tower launch pad and either Archer or Beauty was up on top of the Xerox Tower. All was quiet.

The weather is going to be much cooler and windy tomorrow. Hope more Watchers are able to make it downtown to help us keep an eye on this situation.

Carol P.

We are 99.999999% sure that Mariah has returned to the Kodak Tower. During my 3 hour Watch this afternoon, she mostly remained on the K-Tower.

As Jeanne reported, there were workers on the Tower, under scaffolding which covers the top three floors of the tower. She flew by them a few times, but it was nothing like banding day. Thank goodness!

We did see a split wing tip, so again we’re pretty certain it’s Mariah.

She was very intent on ousting the 5-6 Crows that thought they could just hang out on the lower Bldg 10, just north of the K-Tower. We saw her make several
stoops on them. But, they’re pretty stubborn and kept returning. I have no doubt Mariah will win this battle.

Kathy O and Dan saw Mariah on the top I-Beam of the old Changing Scene’s Restaurant. I arrived just as Mariah flew off of the OCRS and headed toward us down the east side of the gorge. She passed directly over us and straffed the pigeons on the Brewery. She then returned to the K-Tower.

When I left at 3:30 pm, Mariah was sitting on the SE corner of the launch pad (K-Tower) and a quick visit to Midtown showed Archer sitting calmly on the SE corner of Midtown. All seemed very calm.

I truly hope that many Watchers will be out to keep an eye on the situation.

Carol P.

There have been so many Watchers making their way to the new location of Archer and Beauty’s nest site over the past few days, including Lisa McK, Kathy O, Shaky, Dan S, Larry O, Dawn, Joyce, Lucy, Kelly (I’m sure I’m forgetting someone.)

Today I spent two hours Watching with Suzanne and Don from Ithaca. A very beautiful day!

When I first arrived, I couldn’t find any Watchers or Falcons. Just as I was pulling out of the Frontier parking lot, a familiar car was pulling in. It was our friends Suzanne and Don from Ithaca. They followed me over to Broad St and the north side of HSBC. We parked our cars and walked up to the corner of Chestnut and Broad, where we had a good view of the east side of Midtown Plaza.

Beauty flew in from the north side of Midtown and landed first on the top, NE corner. She then flew over to the top, SE corner where she settled in for a preening session.

We settled down on the cement curbing in front of HSBC to enjoy the day and the Watch.

We watched Beauty preen and the pigeons across the street. The males were strutting after their females, looking like puffed up body builders.  The girls weren’t impressed.

Back to watching Beauty. Finally she took off and flew down to the nest ledge.  She sat there for a good 1/2 hour, again preening, before jumping down into the nest gutter. Archer popped up and flew out from the ledge.

Archer circled above us, first heading towards the fire escape on the Columbus Bldg and then heading back to Midtown Plaza where he landed on the top SE corner. It was now his turn to preen and relax.

It was 3:30 pm. and time for us to leave. I said my goodbyes to Suzanne & Don, wished them a safe trip home and then headed home myself. Another wonderful Falcon Watching Day.

Carol P.